Chinese national pension insurer Guomin Pension & Insurance Co announced that German investment firm Allianz Global Investors will become a strategic investor. Analysts said that foreign financial institutions and “patient capital” continue to increase investment in China's pension finance market, indicating their confidence in the country's long-term economic growth and enormous business opportunities brought about by China's financial opening-up. According to a statement on the website of Guomin Pension & Insurance Co, Allianz Global Investors plans to spend about CNY284 million to buy a total of 228 million shares of the insurer. After the deal, Allianz Global Investors will have a 2% stake in the insurance firm. The deal needs to be approved by the National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA).
Guomin Pension & Insurance Co, jointly launched by China's largest banks and insurers in 2022, said its in-depth cooperation with Allianz Global Investors will bring an international perspective and professional experience, helping the company enrich products and services and better meet the public's demand for pension security and wealth management. “Allianz Global Investors is committed to growth in China, we are dedicated to exploring suitable business opportunities and partnerships in this important market,” the company told the Global Times.
The Central Financial Work Conference held in Beijing in October made pension finance one of the focuses in the development of China into a financial powerhouse. The German financial firm's investment in a newly established professional pension insurance firm in China sends a signal that foreign financial institutions and “patient capital” continue to increase their investment in China's pension finance sector, and they are showing their confidence in China's long-term growth potential, Liu Guohong, Director of the Department of Finance and Modern Industries at the China Development Institute in Shenzhen, told the Global Times.
Zhao Qingming, a Beijing-based veteran financial analyst, told the Global Times that China's financial opening-up has made remarkable achievements in recent years, with a vast increase in the number of foreign-funded firms and foreign investment in China's financial markets. HSBC recently said that it completed the acquisition of Citi's retail wealth management business in the Chinese mainland, while a couple of foreign financial institutions – Fidelity Investment Group and Alliance Bernstein – moved to increase the registered capital of their Chinese subsidiaries. In recent years, the country has rolled out more than 50 measures to expand financial opening-up, including scrapping foreign ownership caps in the banking and insurance sectors, and slashing access thresholds for foreign investors, according to NFRA. As of January, 24 foreign “Global Systemically Important Banks” had established institutions in China and nearly half of the world's top 40 insurance companies had entered the Chinese market, data from the NFRA showed. China sincerely welcomes more foreign institutions and long-term capital to come to China to do business, Li Yunze, Director of the NFRA, said at the annual Lujiazui Forum held in Shanghai, as reported by the Global Times.
